GENIVI - Open Source In-Vehicle Infotainment Platform Based on MeeGo With Partners Like BMW, GM, Renault

While Android is all poised to become the most popular mobile phone OS by 2014, what about the other open source, *truly* Linux, mobile OS platform, MeeGo? Well, MeeGo might just become the most popular open source In-Vehicle Infotainment platform!

GENIVI and MeeGoMeeGo is a Linux-based open source mobile operating system project which was announced at Mobile World Congress in February 2010 by Intel and Nokia in a joint press conference. On the other hand, GENIVI is a non-profit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform. And in July 2010, GENIVI Alliance chose MeeGo as their desired platform to work on and improve.

With alliance partners like BMW, GM, Renault, Peugeot Citroen, Delphi and the likes, GENIVI alliance is not some 'attempt' at building an open source in-vehicle infotainment(IVI) platform. Instead, MeeGo will now officially be the next IVI reference release, Apollo.

MeeGo will supply internet savvy multimedia in IVI such as rear-seat entertainment console and built-in navigation and entertainment. You may even find of integration of social media services like twitter and facebook into your car infotainment system.

Linux Foundation and MeeGo
According to Linux foundation, adoption by this major automotive alliance is a testament to the cross-device, cross-architecture advantages of the MeeGo platform.

“We are pleased to see GENIVI choose MeeGo to power their software platform,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “MeeGo has been built from the ground up for these types of applications. Because MeeGo is a truly open platform, the work GENIVI will do to extend the platform can benefit the project and all who use it. For developers, this is a great opportunity to harness the power of the MeeGo APIs to target a variety of devices and architectures and extend their work on handset applications toward vehicles.”

The rapid adoption of Android and MeeGo across all walks of life are definitely good signs for open source in general and Linux in specific. Just may be, these are signs of Linux REALLY going mainstream after all. Even more intriguing is the sheer variety of fields open source is currently used in. People are suddenly finding scope for open source literally everywhere, from Robotics and Moon Mission to even SETI's search for alien life!